This paper introduces the concept of transracial aesthetic labour to understand why and how an international teaching assistant (ITA) vocally changes meanings of his racial identity.
The paper uses a narrative analysis to detail instances of transracial aesthetic labour.
For the ITA, this labour involved orally distancing from or aligning with particular Indian stereotypes for specific contexts.
Transracial aesthetic labour may occur in other industries that deem race an integral part of sounding right or looking good for the job.
The findings highlight the need for ITAs and universities to rethink the meaning of transracial to combat racist perceptions of ITAs' speech.
The paper advances the aesthetic labour literature by exploring how race is vocally performed for this labour and introducing ITAs as aesthetic labourers.
